The wilderness is calling

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Movie
German title The wilderness is calling
Original title The Yearling
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1946
length 135 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Clarence Brown
script Paul Osborn
production Sidney Franklin
music Herbert Stothart
camera Leonard Smith ,
Charles Rosher ,
Arthur E. Arling
cut Harold F. Kress
occupation
synchronization

The wilderness is calling (Original title: The Yearling ) is an American adventure and youth film by director Clarence Brown from 1946. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize- winning novel Spring of Life ( The Yearling , 1938) by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings . The lavishly produced literary film adaptation won three Academy Awards , including Best Picture .

action

After the American Civil War , the Baxter farming family lived in rural Florida . They are pioneers and have wrested some land from the dense forest, which they are now cultivating. Father Penny and mother Ora have already lost three of their children. Ten year old Jody is their only surviving child. The father idolizes the boy and goes on many adventures with him, while the mother suffers from the loss of her other children and has no close relationship with Jody.

Living with no siblings and isolated from other children, Jody wants a pet he can look after. Penny father understands his son, but Ora is disgusted by the thought. One day when Penny is bitten by a venomous snake , they kill a deer and use the animal's innards to pull the venom out of Penny's bite wound. Jody wants to keep the fawn of the dead deer and look after it. His father allows it, but tells him that the animal must be released once it is fully grown. Jody's friend, the sickly but imaginative Fodderwing from the neighboring Forresters' farm, is supposed to give the fawn a name. Jody appears with the Forresters, but Fodderwing died. But before his death he had given the fawn the name " Flag " because of the waving white tail.

Soon Jody and Flag are inseparable. Flag grows bigger and becomes a pain in the ass in everyday farm life. It eats the grain that has just grown, destroys fences and tramples the tobacco plants. Because of Flag, the family's harvest is in danger and there is a risk of hunger. Penny then orders Jody to shoot the animal. Jody goes out with Flag, but can't have the heart to kill the animal. He wants to release Flag, but the deer keeps coming back to him. Then Ora takes the rifle and shoots Flag, but only wounds the animal. Penny now wants Jody to release Flag from his suffering. Jody obeys orders and kills Flag.

Jody can't get over the death of his animal friend. Full of sadness and anger, he runs away. Three days later he is brought back home by a river boatman. Penny father tells him that his mother has been looking for him the whole time. Before Jody goes to bed, Ora comes back. She, who was full of fear of losing her last child, is overjoyed and showered the boy with more love and affection than he has ever received from her.

background

The novel Spring of Life by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was published in 1938 and quickly became a bestseller, so Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer quickly secured the film rights. Production of the film began as early as 1941 under the direction of Victor Fleming . The original parents were Spencer Tracy and Anne Revere , with Roddy McDowall as Fodderwing. But then countless problems hindered the shooting: Gene Eckman, who was supposed to portray Jody, got a growth spurt, a mosquito bite arose, director Fleming and producer Sidney Franklin fell out. King Vidor then took over the director's chair. However, when the United States entered World War II, the project was eventually abandoned with a loss of $ 500,000 because, in the opinion of MGM, the public would no longer want to see films of this type during wartime.

Start of the "Yearling Trail"

It wasn't until 1945 that filming, directed by Clarence Brown , resumed with new actors, which again lasted ten months. An elaborate casting took place across America for the role of Jody, in which the newcomer Claude Jarman Jr. from Nashville was able to prevail. The Technicolor film cost almost four million US dollars, an astronomical sum at the time. 32 trained animals were brought in front of the camera. The fawn flag was represented by five fawns to keep track of the animal's growth. Over 400 other animals were used in the film undrained, including rattlesnakes, pigs, dogs, buzzards and chickens. Some of the animal scenes had already been shot in the first project in 1941 and were taken over into the film. The film was partly shot on the property of the novelist Rawlings. Filming also took place in the Juniper Prairie . A hiking trail was named "The Yearling Trail" in honor of the novelist.

A remake for television was produced in 1994, directed by Rod Hardy. Peter Strauss played the father .

reception

At the box office, The Wilderness Calls MGM's most successful film of 1946. Due to the high production costs, the profit was rather modest at 451,000 US dollars. The critics were convinced of the quality of the film and the camera work and the actors in particular received high praise. In his 1946 review, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote that The Wilderness Calls was one of the few films that successfully captured the innocence of childhood. Director Brown showed both "his heart and his intelligence" with the film, while Claude Jarman Jr. showed an "unbelievably fine performance". The film turned out to be "joyful and inspiring".

Even today, the film is viewed positively by most of the critics. The lexicon of international film , on the other hand, was more critical and describes the film as a "[g] sensitive youth film which, despite some stylistic deficiencies, offers decent entertainment thanks to its excellent performance".

Awards

At the Oscar ceremony in 1947 , the film was in the categories of Best Cinematography (Color) (Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith, Arthur Arling) and Best Art Direction (Color) ( Cedric Gibbons , Paul Size , Edwin B. Willis ) to the Oscar awarded. In addition, Claude Jarman jr. the Juvenile Award for “Outstanding Child Actor in 1946”. The film was also nominated in the categories:

In 1947, Gregory Peck received a Golden Globe for Best Actor - Drama for The Wilderness Calls .

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1949 by the Motion Picture Export Association.

role actor Voice actor
Penny Baxter Gregory Peck Klaus W. Krause
Ora Baxter Jane Wyman Eva Vaitl
Jody Baxter Claude Jarman Jr. Axel Jahn

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. a b See Trivia in the Internet Movie Database
  2. See review of the New York Times
  3. See rottentomatoes.com
  4. The wilderness is calling. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 24, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. See synchrondatenbank.de